Newsletter

Police reports from Feb. 21, 2012

From staff reports

PONTE VEDRA

Man arrested on child abuse charges: Justin Randolph Demott, 25, of Ponte Vedra was arrested on three counts of aggravated child abuse Monday, according to a report from the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office. Each charge is a first degree felony.

The report says that on Feb. 8 Demott used a 2-by-4 piece of wood to strike a 9-year-old and a 12-year-old “multiple times” on the buttocks, according to witnesses, and that both children sustained injuries. The report also says that Demott used a “hypodermic needle to inject a controlled substance into the body of a 7-year-old child.”

Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kevin Kelshaw said the report states the controlled substance was Lortab, a pain reliever. The child was taken to Baptist Medical Center South for treatment and was released.

Demott was in the St. Johns County Jail on Tuesday in lieu of $75,000 bond.

FLAGLER COUNTY

Man shoots, kills wife while inspecting rifle: A Palm Coast man shot and killed his wife while inspecting a rifle Tuesday morning, he told the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies were called to their Covington Lane home about 9:15 a.m. where 30-year-old Stefanie Merrill suffered one rifle shot to the chest, the Sheriff’s Office said. Investigators are questioning William Merrill, 32.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and State Attorney’s Office also are investigating what happened.

The Sheriff’s Office said the family’s 3-year-old child was home at the time and their 6-year-old was at school.

POLICE REPORTS

The following was compiled from police reports collected from the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office (SJCSO) and the St. Augustine Police Department (SAPD):